People in the news

Chicago - Film critic Roger Ebert, who is battling cancer in a Chicago hospital, says he looks forward to coming back to work despite a hard road to recovery that has kept him hospitalized for two months.

"I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you when, but I sure look forward to being back on the movie beat," he said in a statement Thursday.

Ebert, famous for his "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" critiques, had surgery June 16 to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland. He also had emergency surgery July 1 after a blood vessel burst near the site of the operation.

The 64-year-old had undergone cancer surgery three times before the June operation: once in 2002 to remove a malignant tumor on his thyroid gland and twice on his salivary gland the next year.

Injury brings early end to Manilow's Vegas show

Los Angeles - Barry Manilow has canceled his three remaining performances at the Las Vegas Hilton to undergo surgery to repair torn cartilage in both hips, his publicist said.

The 60-year-old singer, who has a four-year concert contract with the hotel, suffers from labrum tears in his hips - a painful condition exacerbated by his high-energy performances, publicist Carol Marshall said in a statement Thursday.

Manilow announced Aug. 7 that he would continue performing through his appearance at the upcoming Emmy Awards and then go in for surgery. But during a show Wednesday, Manilow announced the pain had made it too difficult to continue performing.

He is still expected to make his Aug. 27 appearance at the Emmys and will then be admitted to a Southern California hospital for outpatient arthroscopic surgery, Marshall said.